Comments on: Dryer Balls of PVC

By: Peggy Rowland

Peggy Rowland — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:09:09 +0000

Sway, maybe you can return them and get the kind that are marked as PVC free. I believe Nellie’s makes them now. Or use tennis balls.

By: sway

sway — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:19:48 +0000

ugh….. I knew it! We use cloth diapers with our baby and my husband kept saying we should buy dryer balls. So we got a pair at target. Then I was thinking to myself, well, they ARE made of plastic, I wonder how safe they could be. He went online did some research then told me that they usually don’t contain phthalates and PVC because they make the plastic brittle. Don’t worry about it my a$$! I just did laundry and it reminded me to look it up on my own, I’m glad that I did (also glad that we sometimes forgot to use the dryer balls). why don’t husbands like to listen to their wives?…..

By: PVC-free Dryer Balls | DIY How To

PVC-free Dryer Balls | DIY How To — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:16:43 +0000

[...] year, I wrote a post called Dryer Balls of PVC about how disappointed I was that so many of the so-called green dryer balls contained PVC [...]

By: Peggy

Peggy — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:33:04 +0000

James, thanks for letting me know. I wrote a follow-up post about this at a sister site – blisstree.

http://www.blisstree.com/articles/pvc-free-dryer-balls/

By: PVC-free Dryer Balls : Blisstree - Family, Health, Home and Lifestyles

PVC-free Dryer Balls : Blisstree - Family, Health, Home and Lifestyles — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:29:30 +0000

[...] a Comment // Last year, I wrote a post called Dryer Balls of PVC about how disappointed I was that so many of the so-called green dryer balls contained PVC [...]

By: james Roberts

james Roberts — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:12:50 +0000

Good New! Nellie’s all natural has listened to your concerns and now has a PVC Free Dryerball. All of our customers will eventually offer the PVC Free but at the moment they are available from Delight.com and NelliesallNatural.com

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:52:21 +0000

This has been most informative as I too was considering buying the Dryer balls for my laundry, mostly to cut down on drying time. Considered tennis balls too but I suspect they’re not so green. Someone makes balls out of wool that is then felted and used in the dryer but their fabrication is labour intensive and they sell out like hot cakes – I guess they’d be easy enough to make…

By: Jul

Jul — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:06:37 +0000

Tennis balls – interesting idea! I would have never thought of that (but then again, I would have never thought of these spiky little balls, either).

By: Peggy Rowland

Peggy Rowland — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:42:42 +0000

Jul, one reason I decided to discourage dryer balls is because there’s no good way to dispose of them. Even if you find a place that accepts plastics #3, these things will release their dioxins when being recycled. But this is true of many things made of PVC.

I honestly can’t say whether they are harmful to use in the dryer. I don’t think that has been studied. I don’t know if they are getting hot enough to release any gases or not. If you want to be on the safe side, use tennis balls instead. This is something I’ve seen suggested by manufacturers of down blankets.

If I wanted to get rid of some dryer balls I would mail them back to the manufacturer with a note about why I’m sending them back.

By: Jul

Jul — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:01:25 +0000

We received a pair of these as a Christmas present, and I can’t say that I thought much about them either way (my husband was excited for them, though, since I refuse to use dryer sheets – so I do use the balls). I only use the dryer for sheets and towels, and I think they come out fine without any softening aids.

Since we already own the balls, what to do? Are they causing us harm if I use them? Evil PVC residue? Since I doubt I could recycle them here, it seems like they will end up in a landfill if I get rid of them now.